However, Simon Jenkins of the Guardian argues that parking fines are rocketing because of central government's addiction to power. Criticising the effects of government cuts to local authority funding he said the parking "farrago" shows that politicians did not mean a word of what they said when they promised to devolve power away from the centre to local authorities. As a result parking charges is one of the few ways of raising money local councils have .

Councils lose out on funding after government miscalculations

Local authorities face losing out on £95m worth of funding next year after the Department for Communities and Local Government underestimated the amount of financial protection councils need to protect councils against fluctuating business rates income. A spokesperson for the DCLG said: "The safety net is there to protect those local authorities who need it, and has always been funded by the local government sector for the sector. Unused funds will be returned to local authorities. We are revising the figures in the light of up-to-date information from local authorities: councils would be rightly concerned if we did not."

A documentary looks at the difficulties of getting a council house

A Channel 4 documentary followed council officers and families in the London borough of Tower Hamlets this week, as they looked for a new home. With council house waiting lists in the borough 24,000 people-long and few properties available, it explored the difficulty of rehousing residents.